Day 5 Skip
As we were driving back to the lodge after taking our Gemsbok and Sable, Nick our PH got a phone call.
A ranch not far from our lodge had found two lambs killed on consecutive nights by a Caracal that had apparently moved into their property. They called Nick to see if he could come hunt the Caracal and save their lambs from further destruction.
When he isn't guiding hunters for big game, Nick runs a pack of predator hounds that are trained for Jackals and Caracals. If he has a hunter available he will guide the hunter for the chance to take a Caracal. If he doesn't have a hunter, he will just hunt the offending predator himself as the ranchers will pay him a bounty for eliminating the offending predator.
So when he got the call, Nick asked Derek and I if one of us would be interested in hunting the Caracal in the morning. It wasn't on my radar but I just could not pass up the experience that was served up to me by the hunting gods so I said "Let's do it!"
So the next morning saw Nick meeting us at the lodge before daybreak. His pack of hounds was in a trailer pulled by his hounds man, a gentleman Nick employed to care for, exercise and train his hounds.
We left in time to be at the site of the kill, where the 2nd dead lamb was laying at first light. Hopefully the cat had been feeding during the night and would still be close.
We arrived and Nick fetched his "striker" hounds out....his best hounds that were excellent at finding the scent of the offending predator and get the pack started on the trail. Nick lead the striker hounds to the dead lamb and they circled the dead animal for a minute, then let out a loud howl and were straining at the leash. Nick ordered the pack unloaded from the truck then released the striker hounds, who took off like a shot away from the dead lambs.
The experience was exactly like hunting mountain lions with dogs out west here in the U.S.....only the cat is much smaller
We followed on foot for almost a mile but when the pack went over a hill and through a valley, Nick had his tracker grab the truck and Derek and I road with the truck around to the other side of the valley a caught up with the pack. We could hear a tremendous howling as the pack had now tree'd the offending Caracal.
Nick explained that we had to sneak in while the cat was focused on the pack of dogs below the tree because if the cat saw us, he might jump from the tree and take off again.
Nick handed me his 9mm Sig Sauer pistol since we did not want to blast the cat with my .300 Wby plains game rifle. We approached the tree'd cat slowly, trying to keep a tree between us and the cat at all times. I got about 10 yards from "the tree" and I could see the cat about 40 feet above us in the tree, snarling at the dogs below.
I have my CPL and carry a pistol every day in Michigan and other states that reciprocate/respect Michigan's carry license and practice shooting a .40 S&W and 9mm a lot. But all that practice is classic "home defense"....a human center mass sized target level with me and less than 10 yards away. I am a good shot but man, this was different. I was to shoot almost straight up, like 80 degree angle... at a small target maybe 15 yards above me and 10 yards over.
I located the cat in the tree. He was facing me so I lined up the pistol's sights on his chest at the base of his neck and slowly squeezed the trigger.
The pistol cracked and the cat came tumbling down out of the tree! The sheep/lamb population on that ranch was once again safe. The ranch owners daughter had tagged along to watch the show and we was most pleased and said her parents were most grateful for us taking care of their problem cat.
Quickly the hounds man raced in to restrain the pack and keep them from tearing up the dead cat. Nick raced in and grabbed the dead cat to save the hide while the hounds man tried to restrain 15 fired up dogs. I was happy that they got the cat in one piece.
I will have him mounted full body crouching and put him on a ledge in my family room....will look pretty cool up there.
So that was an unexpected trophy added to my hunt and a unique experience.
After the photos we delivered the cat to the skinning shed, ate lunch and set out to look for a Bushbuck for Derek without success. The Bushbuck had been shy for the first 5 days so the next day Derek would be back out looking for a Bushbuck in a new area we had not hunted yet.
Derek still had an Impala and I was hoping for a Common Reedbuck so we had plenty to hunt yet while looking for a Bushbuck for Derek early and late.
